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Connecticut man beats rap in teen drug case

Court convicts him of drug trafficking

By Doug Harlow dharlow@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

SKOWHEGAN -- A Connecticut man was found not guilty Thursday of soliciting a 16-year-old girl to help him sell cocaine in the Madison and Skowhegan area earlier this summer.

Nixon Louis, 40, of Manchester, Conn., was convicted of the lesser charge of drug trafficking, a Class B felony, for being an accomplice in drug deals that involved the girl and some of her friends.

He also was found guilty in the jury-waived trial of violating the conditions of his release on bail on drug charges still pending in Kennebec County.

Louis was ordered held without bail by Superior Court Justice John Nivison. He was taken to the Somerset County Jail to await sentencing set for sometime next week.

Defense attorney John Alsop of Skowhegan said the girl's testimony against his client was the only evidence the state had to convict him and that her testimony was unreliable and not credible.

"I think that she lied on the stand," Alsop said, "and she looked like she was lying on the stand."

Alsop said Madison police botched the chain of custody of evidence in the case, which culminated in an exchange of money and drugs in the parking lot of the bowling center near the Skowhegan-Madison town line in June.

Alsop said there was no physical evidence against Louis. He said the fact that his client is black had police believing they had the right man, and that they did not pursue others suspected of being involved with the girl and drugs.

"There is a 2,000-pound elephant in this courtroom that no one is talking about," Alsop said in court. "They take a 6-foot-2, 200-pound, bald-headed black guy from the car, and they have got their man."

Alsop and Assistant District Attorney James Mitchell agreed that the girl had been involved in drug dealing, but disagreed about what role Louis played in an undercover sting that netted police drugs and cash.

The girl had agreed to meet with an undercover police officer and someone who turned out to be a police informant for the drug exchange in June. Louis drove the girl to the bowling alley parking lot and waiting, out of sight, for her to return.

He was arrested minutes later.

"He's not just guilty because he was there, he's guilty because he was the supplier," Mitchell told the judge.

In his ruling, Nivison said there was insufficient evidence to convict Louis of the Class A crime of enlisting a child under 18 for use in drug trafficking. He added that Louis' presence in the parked car was evidence that he had some role in the transaction.

"Nixon Louis was aware of what was going on," the judge said. "It was accomplice liability at a minimum. Nixon Louis was not just a friend providing a ride."

Louis faces a possible 10-year maximum sentence on the trafficking charge.

There is no mandatory minimum sentence.

Alsop said he still believes the case against Louis was racially motivated and the fact that four of the original charges for which Louis was indicted were dropped is evidence of his client's innocence. He said they might appeal.

"We started out with six counts, and we got it down to two -- two out of six ain't bad," he said outside the courtroom.

Doug Harlow -- 474-9534

dharlow@centralmaine.com